Placket-closure.



PATENTED FEB. 10, 1903. v

L. W. & `s. M. LUBLLEN.

PLAGKB'I" CLOSURE.

APPLICATION FILED A1 1I.11.19o2.

N0 MODEL.

v Lwcior:

I Lawrence Wlluellen,

s Saum MLM-uen,

y MMM f UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LAVRENCE WV. LUELLEN AND SALLIE M. LUELLEN, OF BROOKLINE,

y MASSACHUSETTS.

PLAoKET-oLosuRE.

SPECIFJICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 720,450,0lated February 10, 1903.

Application filed April 1l, 1902.

and useful Improvements in Grarmnt-Clo--A sures, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates toclosures for the meeting edges of garments, such as the plackets of dress-skirts and the like, having for its principal object the provision of an effective fastening for the closure.

In closures of the type consisting of a pair of eXible members, one of which is adapted to be secured at each side of the placket, the usual manner of vfastening them together is to rivet orhinge the ends located at the lowerV extremity of the placket and provide some separate fastener at the ends near the waistband, depending upon the spring of the members to retain them together at intermediate pointswhen in-use. If any ordinary intermediate fastener were used-for example, the ball-and-socket catch-such a fastening would be ineffective for at least two reasons-it is insecure, being detachable or separable by a single movement, and this in the general direction of a strain frequently brought on the placket in the wearing of the garment, and when it remains in engagement it gives a practically rigid fastening, which under the movements of the skirt causes the members'on each sideto bow and gap and brings a considerable strain upon thefabric. Our invention overcomes these difficulties, as hereinafter described, by combinations more particularly claimed.

In the drawings, Figure l shows a portion of a skirt upon the wearer with the placket provided with one form of our improved closure. FigsQ-and are respectively a front plan View and a side elevation with the parts broken away of the closure removed from the skirt, and Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7 are similar views of other forms of our invention.

Similar characters designate like parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

We prefer to employ two closure members Serial No. 102,438. (No model.)

'l0 1l, preferably of some thin flexible and elastic material, as steel, which may conveniently be formed integrally of a single strip bent at l2 to furnish two arms or members lying normally side by side. These members are preferably covered with fabric 13, through which they may be attached to the garment, as at the placket of askirt S. (Shown in Fig. 1.) It is evident, however, thatthe steel or other inner portion may be entirely omitted and the fabric alone constitute the flexible member. The lower end of the closure is held together by either the connection between the arms or the meeting of the sides of the placket if independent members are employed, while the upper ends of the members may be secured in proximity to one another by the fastening' of the skirt-binding when it is adjusted upon the wearer.

To insure the members remaining in contact between the ends, a plurality of fasteners is provided, these being preferably so formed and located as to permit some longitudinal movement of the members Without disengagement. These fasteners in the present instance consist of a stud 14, fixed to one member and extending toward the other, provided with a head 15 and a contracted neck portion 16. For coaction with the stud the opposite member is provided with an eye, which may be providedwith a reinforcingrim 17, said eye having an opening 18 large enough to admit the head of the stud and a narrow elongated portion '19,extendin g therefrom longitudinally of the member. This portion may be contracted, if desired, at a point 20, adjacent to the opening 1S, to a width slightlyless than the diameter of the neck of the stud, so that some slight force may be required to spring the sides'apart to move the stud from one portion of the eye to another. The contraction 20 is, however, not essential in this or other forms of our invention.

We prefer to provide'the members with a lock against an accidental separation by so locating the fasteners that it will be necessary to move the same member in different directions to separate adjacent fasteners. In the form shown in Figs. 2 and 3 this is eected by reversing the adjacent fasteners, each ICO member havinga stud and an eye oppositely situated to the stud in the companion member, the elongated portion of all the eyes eX- tending in the same direction. It will be seen that it will be necessary to move one of the members both up and down in the same plane to release adjacent fasteners,although movement in any direction in said plane is limited by the wall of the eye, and that accidental disengagement is practically impossible, the movement ot' one stud toward the large opening of the eye forcing the next against the end wall of the elongated portion, yet this arrangement is particularly easy for the wearer to fasten or unfasten, since the yield of the fiexible members readily allows this opposite movement when the force is properly applied, and all the studs or all the eyes move in the same direction to accomplish either end, rendering it unnecessary to see the parts to enable the wearer to know which way one or another of the eyes or studs move. The same locking effect may be secured by placing all the studs or all the eyes upon opposite members and locating one or more of the eyes with the elongated portion pointing in a different direct-ion from its neighbor.

As shown in Figs. 4 and 5,where three fasteners are employed, the center one is inverted. This necessitates the movement of adjacent studs or eyes in opposite directions, as well as the members, to disengage the fasteners. In this form the contracted portion of the eye (shown in the previous `figures -at 20) is omitted.

In Figs. 6 and 7 the locking arrangement of fasteners previously described is not einployed, but the contraction 2O of the elongated portion ofthe opening depended upon to prevent accidental separation, the eyes being all in one member and extending in the same direction.

In each of the above-described forms there is a movement of the members permitted relatively to each other by the play of the stud in the elongated portion of the eye without the parts assuming a position in which they can separate. This does away with the strains which would tend to cause disengagement and also effectually prevents a drag upon the gar-l ment, which would tend to cause the fastener to show or even tear the fabric, an important consideration where delicate goods are employed. All types of the device have been illustrated as connected at one end and provided with lthree fasteners; but it is evident that any of them, if desired,'of less length might be used in the form resulting from cutting them on the line .fr ir.

Having thus described our invention, we claim-d l. A garment-closure comprising at least two flexible members, one of the members being provided with a stud having a head and a contracted shank and the companion member with an eye for coaction with the stud, said eye having at one end an opening sufiiciently large to admit the head, and an elongated slot to receive the shank leading therefrom and contracted at a point adjacent to the opening to a width less than the diameter of the shank.

2. A garment-closure comprising at least two exible members, and a plurality of fasteners for the members each consisting of a stud and an eye so formed and located as to require the movement of the same member in different directions in the same plane to effecttheir disengagement, the movement in any direction in said plane being limited by the contact of the stud and the wall of the eye.

3. A garment-closure comprising at least two exible members, and a plurality of fasteners for the members each consisting of a stud and an eye so formed and located as to require the movementof the saine member in opposite directions in the same plane to effect the disengagement of adjacent fasteners, the movement in any direction in said plane being limited by the contact of the stud and wall of the eye.

Signedby us at Boston, Massachusetts, this 9th day of April, 1902.

LAVRENCE W. LUELLEN. SALLIE M. LUELLEN.

Witnesses:

WALTER E. LOMBARD, SYLvANUs H. COBB. 

